Christine Koniezhny was a good student. She won a book-reading contest during grade school and was valedictorian of her high school class. She earned a full ride to college and a Fulbright scholarship.

But she was an even better teacher, loved ones said.

Koniezhny, who taught French and later became a school administrator, was fascinated with the science behind language acquisition. She was full of energy — a perfect match for working with children, those who knew her said. She enjoyed the challenge of teaching, the problem-solving skills needed to help students reach their full potential.

“It was just the way her brain was shaped,” said her longtime partner, Danny Mydlack. “She was very on fire and very hungry around language.”

She loved her work so much that she couldn’t fathom leaving her job as assistant principal for academics at the Friends Upper School — even when she was diagnosed in April 2024 with ALS, the progressive neurodegenerative disease. Most ALS patients live two to five years after diagnosis. There is no cure.

But as Koniezhny’s physical condition declined, she found new ways to keep going. When she started using a wheelchair, she moved her classroom to the first floor. When she couldn’t uncurl her fingers, she used technology to swipe through screens and move her mouse. At the very end, her mind was still “on fire,” her partner said.

She died early in the morning of March 2 with Mydlack by her side. She was 61.

Koniezhny was born April 29, 1964, and grew up with her younger brother Todd in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

“She was the quintessential big sister her entire life, from the time she was little all the way until her very last days,” Mydlack said. “She was her brother’s protector and his champion.”

Their parents were hard workers and hard partiers — a combination that taught Koniezhny to be both serious and a little chaotic, Mydlack said. Their maternal grandparents were French Canadian, so Koniezhny grew up hearing the language at home. Her local church celebrated Mass once a month in French.

But Koniezhny mostly credited her Uncle Paul, who taught French at the College of William & Mary, for inspiring her career. When she was older, she won a Fulbright scholarship and spent a year in northern France fully immersing herself in the culture and language.

Koniezhny studied and played rugby at nearby Williams College. After graduation, she worked briefly in insurance before starting her teaching career at the Applewild School in Massachusetts, where she met fellow first-year teacher Karen Johnson.

“I liked her right away,” recalled Johnson, also her roommate. “She was wide open, very easy to talk to, and really humorous and fun.”

The two enjoyed cooking together, especially when Koniezhny whipped up Dijon mustard dressing — a recipe Johnson uses to this day.

In the craziness of lesson planning and grading, Koniezhny always made time for her friend. She was a “pistol” who never sugarcoated her thoughts, Johnson said.

Koniezhny later took a job at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans. Her years there “were the best times of her life,” Mydlack said. She loved telling stories of Mardi Gras shenanigans and Nico, the kitten she rescued. She worked nights as a waitress to socialize and earn extra cash.

After Hurricane Katrina, she took a temporary job in Houston while waiting to return home. When she did, she made an unsuccessful pitch for chair of her department.

Though she was disappointed, her life was about to change. In 2008, she received a call from a former colleague. Friends School was in search of a French teacher.

Up to Baltimore she went. She “was intrigued by the idea of Quaker education,” Koniezhny told the Friends student newspaper, the Quaker Quill. She embraced Quaker values of simplicity, integrity and mutual respect, her partner said.

Koniezhny often referred to herself as a “warm demander” — a pedagogical approach that equally prioritizes high expectations and care for students’ wellbeing, Mydlack said. Some students were so affected by her that they’d return a decade later to tell her so.

Many still cherish memories of school trips to France with her. Throughout her life, Koniezhny traveled there as much as she could.

Her French friends “would say that Christine was as French as they were,” Mydlack said. “The way that she dressed, her style, her sense of sophistication, her sense of getting outdoors, the way that she ate, her mindset — all French.”

She worked her way up and became Friends’ academic dean. She still taught, in addition to her administrative responsibilities, and only stopped when advanced ALS meant she couldn’t.

“She was really extraordinarily good at getting consensus, at allowing everybody’s viewpoint to be heard and seen and respected,” Mydlack said.

She met Mydlack online around 2010, and their chemistry was palpable. They liked spending time outdoors, hiking and canoeing, and were the perfect travel partners, he said. Mydlack joked that he joined a list of colorful lovers, including the Elvis impersonator Koniezhny dated as a teenager.

“We were both really funny together,” he said. “We were both wickedly intelligent, and we both had fire.”

Koniezhny had many hobbies, but perhaps the most interesting was glass-blowing, Mydlack said. On a trip to France, she stumbled upon a shop selling huge necklaces, lined with ornate glass beads swirling with color and different textures.

It was the epitome of Koniezhny’s style — “big necklace, little dress” — Mydlack said. So when she returned to the U.S., she took an intensive weeklong glass-blowing course. She purchased equipment to set up a home studio in her backyard.

She kept that intensity and passion for knowledge alive after her ALS diagnosis, her partner said. Even in the worst times, she maintained her wit and charm.

“She was this physically diminutive powerhouse, who was a working-class kid, who powered her way to becoming an absolutely endearing teacher and a hilarious colleague,” Mydlack said.

He is planning a Baltimore memorial service to take place in May.

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